Expert Software Engineer salary in San Jose, CA

Based on 3,198 certified H-1B filings at DOL wage level IV in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Includes Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Cupertino.

Also listed as: Software Developer, Software Development Engineer, SDE

Median salary$258,442
Middle 50%$226.2k–$268k
vs. all levels here+37%comparison median $187,974
Filings3,198FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $226,158 and $380,000.
PercentileSalary
10th$226,158
25th$226,158
50th (median)$258,442
75th$268,000
90th$297,470

Salary by year

Median salary

$150k $215k $280k FY2020: median $172,640 (3,035 filings) FY2021: median $184,080 (3,233 filings) FY2022: median $196,000 (3,782 filings) FY2023: median $200,000 (2,632 filings) FY2024: median $266,600 (660 filings) FY2025: median $229,999 (2,213 filings) FY2026: median $264,696 (985 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 3,035 filings FY20 FY2021: 3,233 filings FY21 FY2022: 3,782 filings FY22 FY2023: 2,632 filings FY23 FY2024: 660 filings FY24 FY2025: 2,213 filings FY25 FY2026: 985 filings FY26 3,782
Shaded: FY2025–FY2026, the years behind the figures above. Median shown for years with at least 10 filings. FY2026 covers Q1–Q3 only.
Show as table
Fiscal yearMedianP25P75Filings
FY2020$172,640$163,374$192,4003,035
FY2021$184,080$170,872$200,0003,233
FY2022$196,000$184,080$215,0003,782
FY2023$200,000$192,941$224,4002,632
FY2024$266,600$226,158$283,442660
FY2025$229,999$226,158$264,5142,213
FY2026$264,696$264,514$285,000985

Cost of living

San Jose's median expert Software Engineer salary of $258,442 is worth about $234,000 at national average prices.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (U.S. = 100; San Jose = 110.4).

Compared with all workers here

All Software Developers in the San Jose, CA area earned a median of $213,110 in May 2025 (87,350 employed). The H-1B median here is $258,442, 21% higher.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS metropolitan area estimates. BLS wages include some incentive pay; H-1B figures are base salary.

Employers filing at this level

EmployerMedianFilings
Apple$226,158451
Google$275,000283
Netflix$264,514243
NVIDIA$264,514229
LinkedIn$226,158117
TikTok$287,000114
ByteDance$291,31990
Microsoft$253,87189
Meta$262,82263
Adobe$255,00061

Employers with at least 2 filings here. Median shown at 10+ filings.

By experience level

Wage levelMedianFilings
Entry-level · Level I $149,500 2,340
Mid-level · Level II $189,280 7,419
Senior · Level III $226,138 3,601
Expert · Level IV $258,442 3,198

Median shown when a level has at least 10 filings.

Minimum H-1B salary by level

Wage levelPrevailing wage (most common)Median offered salaryFilings
Entry-level · Level I$149,365$149,5002,340
Mid-level · Level II$172,931$189,2807,419
Senior · Level III$199,534$226,1383,601
Expert · Level IV$226,158$258,4423,198

The prevailing wage is the minimum an employer must pay for this job and area. Amounts vary by county within a metro and by wage source.